Whether you have a food, alcohol, lust, or drug problem, you can relate to this. This is embarrassing to admit, but I have to be honest about the struggle. You don’t get to be over 300lbs without having a real problem. Real problems take time to correct. It requires perseverance, patience, pain, and prayer! As I share my journey, I don’t want to be one of those people that you read about on a magazine cover that have lost 150-175lbs and when you ask them how they did it, the answer is “I had a turning point and I’ve been healthy ever since”. That’s bull! When there are so many people struggling with obesity and they look to these magazine articles for insight and some kind of lifeline to help them, it can be misleading. Anyone wanting to lose over 100lbs or anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight knows exactly what I’m talking about. You’re in the line at the grocery store with your cart full of junk food that you plan to give up next week, and an amazing “Half Their Size” cover story catches your eye. So you pick it up with plans to read it later hoping something in that story speaks to you. I know for me, I’m hoping to find one person that has a “fat story” that resembles mine. Maybe this might be my defining moment. It never is. Do you know why? Because while these are great, inspirational stories, they barely scratch the surface of what it really takes to conquer the obesity monster or any monster for that matter. I’m not saying they’re lying. I’m saying some critical stuff is being left out. Believe me the obesity monster puts up one heck of a fight whenever challenged. I know this from my own experience and truth.

So what will I say to people when they say “How did you do it”? I won’t say I had a defining moment, because there were many. I won’t say I made one decision and just did it, because I know I had to make that same decision over and over again to keep going. I won’t say that I did it in 18 months, because in reality it took me nearly a lifetime to get it right.

What I will say is I went through cycles of the new healthy me to the old me, and back again. I will say that my first 50lb lost could’ve gone a lot faster but I gained and lost some of the same pounds. I will say that I would go weeks eating healthy but then one holiday or celebration would temporarily set me back to my old self. Then I’d say, but over time the stretches of healthy eating got longer and the cycles of old me got shorter…..as I never gave up. I’d also say that I didn’t let the cycles completely take me off the path. You see, the cycles are like detours are winding roads. I’m still going in the right direction it’s just taking me a little longer to get there. I guess you could say it’s the “scenic route”. And each time I’m on a straight away of healthy eating, I’m getting closer to my destination. What I am trying to say is the path to change of whatever your struggle is never cut and dry. The journey is a combination of ups and downs, twists and turns, straights and detours, successes and failures, joy and sadness, determination and weakness, hope and despair. And then finally success and freedom. It’s all part of it…..just keep it moving.

So today I went in for my monthly weight loss follow up appointment. I am excited that I lost 44lbs total and now weighing in at 306. Those numbers are great, but the numbers I’m more impressed with are my BP numbers. My blood pressure is down lower than its

Better Numbers not just in Pounds

been in years! I have had blood pressure as high as 176/100. Each doctor visit since starting the weight loss program, the BP has been going down. Today it was 126/80! This is the part that really counts. Its nice to lose weight to look better, wear nicer clothes, and feel more confident. But it is so much more rewarding to have actual evidence of your overall health getting better as a result of losing weight. It can be more motivating than dropping the pounds. Seeing that change in blood pressure proves to me how much my weight affects my health. I have a little more to go on now. Gaining the weight back would mean more than just getting fatter, it would mean my BP would go back up, potentially leading to more health problems like heart disease, kidney failure, and increased risk of stroke. Recent labs even indicated my cholesterol was down from last year. This really puts things in perspective. I feel like I have been spared and given a second chance dispite the way I have treated my body. The weight loss doctor is even recommending I speak to my primary care doctor about taking me off one of my blood pressure meds. This is exciting news! Now my motivation is to change not just my numbers in pounds, but all the other health numbers that count like BP, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. I thank God and pray that He will keep me on the road to better health and quality of life.

Have you noticed how much chunkier kids are today? I don’t mean that in a cruel way. I mean I’m a thick chic myself. But I also know the dangers and it’s not cool. Well after reading an article, I found out that 1 out of every 3 American kids are overweight or obese. Nearly 60 percent of kids are obese. The most surprising thing about this is that many parents don’t recognize their child as being overweight. That is scary! Especially since 70% of those kids will become obese adults, which will become obese parents, which in turn will likely raise overweight children. And the cycle continues. Eventually the entire country will be overweight, out of shape, and suffering from preventable diseases. So what can be done to stop this epidemic? Clearly parents are primarily responsible for their children’s health and diet. And you really can’t blame the schools because parents have a choice to pack their child’s lunch. So should parents of morbidly obese children lose custody or face criminal charges? Many states are desperate to find a solution to this issue and have been debating over the issue of whether or not childhood obesity is the same as child abuse. In fact, awhile back a South Carolina mom was arrested and charged with criminal neglect for allowing her 14 year old son to get too fat. He reached a whopping 555lbs to be exact. That is really sad. But my first thought is that child abuse is quite a stretch. But then I think about the poor toddlers that are often exploited on these talk shows weighing in at nearly 100lbs and only 2 or 3 years old. The parents are usually on stage crying and saying they just can’t say no. But then there are some adolescents who sneak and eat behind their parents backs. But even in these cases of adolescents, parents should “notice” if their kid picks up a cool 25 or 50lbs. And then be responsible enough to seek help if needed. So you could argue neglect if a parent isn’t paying enough attention to notice tremendous weight gain. But the issue really isn’t cut and dry. Some might even argue that if parents of obese children can lose custody, then should we do the same of children who live in homes of smokers, alcohol users?

I honestly am on the fence about this. But the two things I am certain about are 1) parents are solely responsible for their child’s diet and 2) there should be some sort of intervention to assist. Now what intervention, the extinct of the intervention, and the timing of the intervention, I am not entirely sure about. This may be the same question at the state level. What do you think?